Finally, I agree with Hilary

Hillary mocks obama
by dollarsandsense123

""Let's just get everybody together. Let's get unified. The sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect. Maybe I've just lived a little long, but I have no illusions about how hard this is going to be. You are not going to wave a magic wand and have the special interests disappear.""

I'm down, but not out

Hey, just to let you guys know whats going on.

I've been diagnosed pneumonia in my lower right lung right now. I haven't felt good in almost a month, but everything came to a screeching, painful halt saturday morning. I don't know when I'll be back to this blog, or anything of the online nature, but I'm looking at the end of this week as my target.

Thanks for reading,

Robert

America still works, and will in the future

Michael Lind: (Hat tip to Matt)"...even in more normal times there are three ubiquitous myths about America that make the country seem weaker and more chaotic than it really is. The first myth, which is mainly a conservative one, is that racial and ethnic rivalries are tearing America apart. The second myth, which is mainly a liberal one, is that America will soon be overwhelmed by religious fundamentalists. The third myth, an economic one beloved of centrists, is that the retirement of the baby boomers will bankrupt the country because of runaway social security entitlement costs.

America does, of course, have many problems, such as spiraling healthcare costs and a decline in social mobility. Yet the truth is that apart from the temporary frictions caused by current immigration from Latin America, the US is more integrated than ever. Racial and cultural diversity is in long-term decline, as a result of the success of the melting pot in merging groups through assimilation and intermarriage—and many of the country's infamous social pathologies, from violent crime to teenage drug use, are also seeing improvements. Americans are far more religious than Europeans, but the "religious right" is concentrated among white southern Protestants. And there is no genuine long-term entitlement problem in the US.

The US suffers from healthcare cost inflation, a problem that will be solved one way or another in the near future, long before it cripples the economy as a whole. And the long-term costs of social security, America's public pension programme, could be met by moderate benefit cuts or a moderate growth in the US government share of GDP. With a linguistically united, increasingly racially mixed supermajority and a solvent system of middle-class entitlements, the US will remain first among equals for generations to come, even in a multipolar world with several great powers..."

An absolutely brilliant analysis of the United States and it's future.
The numbers and thoughts on immigration are compelling and a breath of fresh air. The current and future state of the church is worrisome for a Evangelical Christian like me, but not terribly so.
Social security, while I disagree with it as a program, will still be ticking when I'm a grandfather.

Excellent read, one that dwells on the real situation, rather then the pessimistic view of the world that we find ourselves with, mostly because we live in the news cycle of the day.

(Under_the_mercy, I will be replying to your last comment soon, but not tonight. Thanks for being a civil and well versed blogger.)

The begrudging Case for Mike Huckabee

As I am now obligated to support Mike Huckabee for the Republican Presidential nominee due to Romney's departure, I will give some reasons why I believe that out of the three remaining contenders, Mike Huckabee is the preferred man.

I'd like to note, before I begin:
I started this primary year liking Ray McKinney, then Duncan Hunter, then Fred Thompson, and finally settled on Romney last week. Now that all of these fine men are out of the race, I am limited to Huckabee, McCain and Paul. Huckabee is the best of the three, limited though the selection may be.

I'll start with my three main issues.
1. War on Terror
As with all the republican contenders, with the exception of Ron Paul, Huckabee is strongly supportive of Bush's actions, and will likely continue taking the fight to the terrorists home turf. While Huckabee has little, if any experience running a war, he is a competent individual. While there is no battle ground similar to Iraq in '02 looming, action must still be taken against Islamic nazis. I trust Huckabee with this.

2. Economy
Admittedly, I have had my prior concerns about Huckabee's tax record. But when contrasted when McCain's past positions, particularly in regard to Bush's tax plan, I deem Huckabee worthy. His persistent campaigning on the Fair Tax is also a bonus, and I doubt he will deviate from that position in his first term, if elected.
Yes, Ron Paul has never raised taxes. But what's the deal with the gold standard? Our standard of living as a nation has only risen since we have switched to our current monetary policy in the early 20th century.
While Huckabee's support of subsidies on agriculture and alternative energies are hardly conservative, they could hardly do worse then what we've had now.

3. Immigration
This is what worries me most about Mike. His actions in Arkansas simply were not good. Still, what more harm could he do then the status quo is achieving?

All da rest (that I agree with Huckabee on):
Abortion
Like McCain and Ron Paul, Huckabee has always opposed the killing of babies.
How anyone wouldn't, I don't know. But this is the issue I trust Mike most on, defending the unborn.


2nd Amendment
Like most republicans, he supports the right to bear arms. He was the first govenor to push, and pass, a concealed handgun permit in the state of Arkansas, and strongly opposed the assault rifle ban.

There you have it. Huckabee is my favorite of the remaining three.
(Romney... I hardly knew thee)

Now we have 3...

Mitt Romney just jumped ship on us...
So I am now 0-4 in my candidate selection.

Who's left?
John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul.
McCain has by far the most delegates, and will likely win the nomination.

I now find myself in the akward position of supporting Mike Huckabee. Since my 3 least favorite contenders are all that's left, Huckabee is the best of them, in my opinion.

More on that later.

Mea Culpa

Ok, so I called yesterday all wrong.
Huckabee is far from finished, at least in the south. McCain, as expected was strong with the liberal states, california included.
Texas may become a king maker, which would be really quite interesting.

Boy was I wrong about Huckabee...

More later, school calls.

Tsumani Tuesday

Well, the voting has started today.

I don't think we'll have a decision on either party.
McCain and Romney will continue to battle through the weeks ahead, and I would hope Romney coming out on top.

Seeing as McCain is continuing his tradition of bashing conservative ideals, it is likely he will fizzle out in the coming weeks.

Huckabee will be finished by Friday, and Ron Paul will hang on until he doesn't get the nomination, in which case he will run as a libertarian.


For the democrats, they're going to bash each other all the way home, and then saddle up and run for office with Clinton in the lead.



Thats my predictions. We shall see what comes to pass.